This blog will focus on relationship building techniques and ways to improve relations in any environment.

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Month: February 2015

February 24, members of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) took an educational tour of Motor City Brewing Works. The event was organized by AIChe President Ken F. and member Jason F. The event was open to all WSU students but only those ages 21 and up was able to sample beers. More than 20 people attended the event. The attendees seemed to enjoy the event and many people commented that they learned so much about the chemical process of creating beer from this tour.

The tour was led by Head Brewer Rob S. After giving out samples of beer to the attendees that were of age, he led the group on a tour of the facility. This includes the brewery where they make the beer and the storing and bottling room.

The tour was very educational. It taught the audience a lot of things while engaging them with beer.

Friday, February 20 was my second day in my communications volunteer position. I’m new as a volunteer and new to an office environment.

As I sat at my desk, with a window and a pretty nice view, I notice how quiet it is.

I notice this because the tapping of my feet sounded so loud compared to the mouse clicking I had just recently realized was coming from the other side of the cubicle. I thought I was alone.

It was at this moment that I realized I was being noisy. If I could hear this guy’s mouse clicking, I’m sure he heard my foot drumming the beat to the song that was stuck in my head.

Assimilating into a new environment means adapting and conforming to their communication style. That also includes knowing when to be silent.

Maddening silent.

In addition to my communications volunteer position, I work in the health care field as a nursing assistant on the weekends while I finish school.

Working in the healthcare field, my job is far from quiet. You have nurses and patients talking, call lights beeping, TV’s blaring, and so on.

Coming to an office environment showed me how quiet people could be. I always said that I value silence, but now I am not sure I do. I value being able to control the volume and amount of noise that I’m hearing. For example, leaving a room full of noisy people and going in another room with quiet people or no people so that I can read a book is the control I like. Being in an office with very quiet co-workers and not being able to hum or tap my foot without feeling like I’m blowing a bullhorn is an example of me being powerless over the volume in the room.

Connect with your co-workers and work environment and be very aware of the way that you behave, especially when you are new. Get a feel for the workplace vibe and see if it is something that you can adapt to and would like to be a part of.

Also, be very aware of how close your co-workers are sitting next to you. I had no idea that this guy was there.

My foot tapping was the prequel to me playing music, at a low setting.

If I heard his mouse clicking, which I did, I’m sure he would have heard Kimberly Jones’ Hardcore album playing from my cubicle.

As I walked down the stairs in a building on WSU’s campus, going from a class to the computer lab, I saw writing on the wall.

I do not promote writing on walls in public institutions, but I thought that it could be excused in this case since it taught me something.

The quote, “The best mind altering drug is truth,” is attributed to Detroit native, Lily Tomlin.

The quote stopped me in my tracks as I walked down the steps. The thought of truth altering the mindset of people is a concept that I have never been able to put into concrete words. We know, “the more you know, the better you’ll do,” but this quote takes it a step further.

It says that truth is mind altering; which is true. Your truth shapes your reality. What you believe shapes how you think, how you act and how you perceive the world.

In the book, “Incidents in the life of a slave girl,” by Harriet Jacobs, there is a particular moment that came to mind when I read the quote on the wall:

“One woman begged me to get a newspaper and read it over. She said her husband told her that the black people had sent the word to the queen of ‘Merica that they were all slaves, that she didn’t believe it, and went to Washington city to see the president about it. They quarreled; she drew her sword upon him, and swore that he should help her to make them all free.

That poor, ignorant woman thought that America was governed by a Queen, to whom the President was subordinate. I wish the President was subordinate to Queen Justice.”

I read this book quite a few years ago, but this passage always stuck with me, especially when talking about reality and people’s perception of the world.

I wasn’t upset with the misinformed woman for thinking that America had a Queen. In fact, I felt relief. I was filled with hope; because she, as a slave, had hope.

She had hope that relief was coming. Hope that there was an end. Hope that the Queen of America would liberate them.

Her truth formed the basis of her reality. If she would have received the truth about America not having a monarchy, that there would be no relief in sight until the President decided to free them, then what would her reality then be?

I think this quote isn’t just about the absolute, Google-worthy facts, but whatever truth you are living.

Embrace your truth, your reality, and live it. Connect with your audience, be it your spouse, employer, or friend, and learn about their truth and their perception of the world because it could liberate your mind.

Thestar.com, based in Toronto, Canada, is Canada’s largest newspaper and they have the largest readership in the country.

I found the home page to be very appealing and easy on the eye. I usually do not like cluttered home pages, but I think it was pretty easy on my eyes because of the color scheme. They use blue and white consistently throughout the website.

This blue, which I have named it, “Facebook blue” is the same shade of blue that Facebook and Twitter both use.

Speaking of social media, Facebook and Twitter seem to be the only social media networks that the website utilizes. On it’s home page, you only have the option to like things on Facebook.

The article that I chose to analyze is titled, “Weatherman loses his mind over thundersnow.”

JEFFREY BROWN: But couldn’t you make the argument that it would be better if we all spoke the same language, that we all understood each other? There would be — well, there would be more understanding in the world.

BOB HOLMAN: Well, I love that argument, and it makes so much sense, until you understand what understanding is.

You know, language is much more than communication. When we talk about it on the surface, that’s what it is. But language is the way we think. And it’s the way it’s been handed down through generations. If you begin to think in another language, that’s fine.

But if you have to lose the way that your family has been speaking, that’s not so fine. That’s losing who you are. And when we lose who we are, that’s when we become this homogenized consumer of life, rather than a citizen who comes…

Asking for others’ critique could just be the thing that sets your work free. (Good thing, it goes both ways.)

I used to hate having my work critiqued. It made me itchy.

Over the years, I’ve learned to love it. In fact, I’m usually much more proud of my work as a result of others’ critique.

A little backstory: I lost my job in 2012 and it took a year to get back into the workplace. Yet another year later, I was job hunting again. Since the freelance and consulting work found me, I decided it was probably what I should be doing.

But one thing I’ve missed about the workplace is being with people. I’m an ENTP (read: extrovert who likes to start stuff), I love being, working with and learning from others. That includes critique of my work.

For my COM 5500 class, we had to complete a Twitter scavenger hunt. There were nine tasks and we had to complete at least four. Me and my partner completed six tasks and after completing the assignment, we created a story in Storify.

The purpose of this exercise was to get the class familiar with both Storify and Twitter.

It was a fun exercise and it helped me get more familiar with new ways to get connected and stay connected with my audiences.